138 Notices and Descriptions of various New [Feb. 



Whether the genus Horeites, Hodgson, should accompany Testa and 

 Microura in the approximation of these latter to Brachypteryx, will 

 admit of considerable doubt. 



From the Brachypteryx series, we might now pass to what have been 

 called the Myiotherine birds ; and thence by the vast series of forms 

 comprised under Swainson's Crateropodince : but some important groups 

 must intervene ; and, first, the four following allied genera — 



Notodela, Lesson. This, I very strongly suspect, is identical with 

 Muscisylvia, Hodgson, Ann. Mag. N. H. 1845, p. 197.* The beak, 

 and even the colouring of the head, of the Himalayan species very 

 closely resemble those of Callene frontalis ; but the rest of the struc- 

 ture approximates these birds to the Dhyals ( CopsychusJ, and even 

 the beak merely differs in being smaller. To particularize further, 

 the general structure is that of Copsychus, but less robust, with a 

 nearly square .tail, of which the outermost pairs of feathers graduate 

 but slightly : the bill is smaller, and the tarsi and toes are more 

 slender, than in Copsychus, with longer and more gracile claws, espe- 

 cially that of the hind-toe : wings reaching half-way down the tail, and 

 having the fifth primary longest, the first about two-fifths the length 

 of the fifth, and the second, third, and fourth, graduating in a suc- 

 cessively decreasing ratio. If correctly brought together, two species 

 will have been ascertained. 



1. N. diana, Lesson, Zool. du Voyage de M. Belanger : respecting 

 which I quote the following from my notes, not having the work to 

 refer to. Length eight inches ; bill to gape eight lines ; and tarse ten 

 lines. Plumage deep brownish-blue, relieved on the forehead by a 

 satiny- white crescent. From Pegu. 



2. N. leucura, (Hodgson). Length about seven inches and a half, of 

 wing three and three-quarters, and tail three and a quarter ; bill to 

 gape seven-eighths, and tarse an inch; hind- toe three-eighths of an 

 inch. General colour dark blackish indigo-blue; the forehead and 

 over the eyes, and the shoulder of the wing, bright smalt-blue ; alars 

 and caudals dull black, except the basal portion of the external web of 

 the three tail-feathers on each side next to the outermost feathers, the 

 quantity of this white increasing outwardly : a concealed white spot on 

 the sides of the neck in the male : bill and feet black. According to 



* This name is, besides, too like Muscylva of Lesson. 



